Re: Wednesday Tastings!

Thanks. I definitely agree that trying in a bar first, especially if you can do it side by side with some other options like the Uigeadail or another sherry Islay (Max mentioned Lagavulin DE in a recent thread I think). Just not overwhelmed by recent Ardbeg offerings.

Originally Posted by HD 335

Many thanks for your notes. I also agree that nose for Barterhouse is actually very pleasant, nice sweet long caramel but the taste and finish leaves something to be desired. It lacked complexity and seemed bland. Rhetoric has a similar nose, but a bit more alcohol. I like the mouth feel and the clove spice, with a dry and oaky finish. I haven't tried OB yet, as I just can't bring myself to spend $160 + taxes where I'm located. However I get a feeling that maybe my favorite among the three.

Interesting notes for SAOS 8 year rye. I just posted notes on mine on another thread, but did come away feeling slightly disappointed. It's not a bad rye by any means, but I'm starting to realized there is very few LDI ryes I really like. WFE 4 year is nice, but I primarily enjoy WT101 rye. I hated the Bulliet Rye and the Angels Envy rye has been sitting on my bar for months untouched up until recently when I felt that I needed to start clearing out some bottles.

I think you may have squashed my curiosity for the Auriverdes. It isn't on my short list, but after reading your comparison to Uigeadail, I'll just seek it out in a bar.

That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat like honey dew vine water and I took another slash…

Re: Wednesday Tastings!

Originally Posted by AaronWF

Tell me more about this guy. There's one sitting on a shelf around here for <$80 that I was considering.

A special run of a fairly heavily peated 13yo Bunnahabhain (38ppm) from 1997 bottled by Murray McDavid with really nice berry notes from the wine cask finish that I thought worked well. Not sweet but definitely holding its own against the peat. Nice smoke but no medicinal or iodine taste to speak of to me. Non Chill filtered and no added color. Only downside is proof at 96 but still a nice creamy mouthfeel and good long finish with a bit of spice especially at the end. Would love to try it a cask strength and water it down to my own preference. Still, well worth it in my opinion. I would be buying another bottle or two at <$80 if I saw it again!

Supposedly Signatory did a bottling of this same special run of 38ppm Bunnahabhain whisky without a finish but have not seen that.

That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat like honey dew vine water and I took another slash…

Re: Wednesday Tastings!

I forgot to mention, the AD Rattray Imperial 17 year, distilled in 1995 is a nice summer dram I recently picked up. They came in 375ml bottles at about $60. It really reminded me of apple juice, basically green fruits and a slight malt finish. I could easily drink many pours during a BBQ. Sounds like your bottle maybe similar to mine. Your one dimensional description makes it sound somewhat unappealing although that might be the best description.

Re: Wednesday Tastings!

Originally Posted by HD 335

I forgot to mention, the AD Rattray Imperial 17 year, distilled in 1995 is a nice summer dram I recently picked up. They came in 375ml bottles at about $60. It really reminded me of apple juice, basically green fruits and a slight malt finish. I could easily drink many pours during a BBQ. Sounds like your bottle maybe similar to mine. Your one dimensional description makes it sound somewhat unappealing although that might be the best description.

Yes, I don't want to make it sound like the Imperial was too bland. The underlying malt likely made it a good base to lay the port finish over as it didn't really compete with it much. You got tons of red berry/fruit flavors from the finish that were quite nice if a bit in your face.

The 22yo Glencadam sounds a bit more like the one you describe. Light, delicate and easy to drink but not really memorable.

Sometimes you want complex, sometime you don't!

Last edited by tanstaafl2; 07-21-2014 at 12:52.

That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat like honey dew vine water and I took another slash…

Re: Wednesday Tastings!

This week the Wednesday tasting was a Rye-apalooza in recognition of the arrival of the new 2yo Willett distilled rye and the cover story of the Summer edition of Whisky Advocate!

Given the Willett is a 2yo the focus this week was on younger ryes in general with a lineup that included the 2yo JD "rested" rye, basic NAS Bulleit rye, 2 4yo MGPI sourced Willett, Leopold Bros Maryland Style Rye, Old Potrero, Goldrun Rye, McKenzie rye and finally my quasi-legendary mystery bottle of 13th Colony rye with the tag indicating a 95/5 mashbill.

But first it was for a splash of blueberry vodka. Say what??? Yes, I said blueberry vodka! This one is from Cold River and it is one of the few flavored vodkas I have ever enjoyed. When you open this bottle (even now, long after it was first opened) the room quickly begins to smell of blueberries. But not bubblegum blueberries. Still, you think this has got to be awful! And yet when you try it the flavor is light and dry and I swear you think just for a moment you are drinking a fresh baked blueberry muffin! In any case I brought it in as a distributor is pushing a new blueberry vodka and the owner wanted to have this one to compare it to as the "gold standard".

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. After a bit rest, water and crackers it was on to the rye. But to start with I wanted to try the DPS store pick 8yo SOAS rye that had not appealed to me last week. Maybe not as sweet and the finish not as bitter but it was still there. This one just isn't for me.

So on to the main event! We started with the JD 2yo rye. For the first time I think I really picked up on the banana flavor every one seems to get on this. What ever that flavor is it is strong, one dimensional and dominating. But it is also rather thin. I think I liked the white dog better. Can only hope it will improve with more age. And hope JD will allow it to get adequate age. And hope it is not priced at a ridiculous level. The last one seems the most unlikely...

Next up was standard Bulleit. It was OK, nothing stood out but it was also a bit thin. The minty/pickle think was not to strong but neither was anything else about it.
From there we moved to the Willett 4yo at 110pf. Solid and lots of bold rye spicey flavor. I got very little mint or dill from this one. Probably should have done the new Willett first...

The guest of honor, the Willett 2yo, was at 108.1pf. It was still a bit grainy tasting and could use a bit more age to me but had a nice spicey profile pushing through with an underlying sweetness through out that was not present in the 4yo Willett. I think the potential is there but don't really need another another until it gets a bit older.

Next up was the Leopold Maryland Style rye which I always find to be a bit sweeter with the light peppery finish coming out towards the end. I know it is not that old but to me it definitely lacks the grainy cereal flavor that was in the Willett. Always enjoyable to me.

The McKenzie rye was next. As when we tried it before this 2yo also has a bit of the rye grain/cereal component but it has the edges smoothed off a bit presumably from the touch of sherry finishing. A toss up between this and the Willett 2yo as I think they are perhaps the two most similar. The edge probably goes to this one for me.

We changed up the order a bit to go to the 13th Colony rye before diving off into the dark world of the all malted rye whiskey from Old Potrero. Again there is that young rye grain character as before. My palate is not sophisticated enough to say whether or not this is MGPI but again I don't get much dill or minty character. Fairly similar to the Willett and McKenzie but perhaps a touch less sweet and a bit thinner on the palate to me.

Then it was time for a brief diversion to Old Potrero and Goldrun, a young "craft" whiskey out of California that is 100% rye mashbill but not malted rye as best I can tell. It is quite young at about 1 year of age and aged in smaller barrels. One K&L staffer suggested it was similar to Old Potrero so I thought it might be interesting to try them side by side. The Old Potrero is a much drier whiskey and very rye spice forward. I like it but I know others seem to love or hate it. The Goldrun had much more of the rye bread yeasty flavor and also was very spicey or peppery to me. The Potrero I enjoy but the Goldrun will likely remain just a now and again bottle when I am looking for that new make rye bread yeasty profile. Don't know just how often I will look for it though...

And that brought an end to the afternoon! Not sure what we learned but we sure enjoyed it!

And the Russel's Reserve barrel pick we did a couple of months ago has arrived at last. So next week will likely feature a bit of "Thanksgiving" in July!

Re: Wednesday Tastings!

To kick it off we finished the last little bit of the Wild Turkey Diamond to put us in the mood! Maybe not the best Turkey there ever was but certainly a delightful pour that seems to have improved after several months at low fill in the bottle. Perhaps a bit thin but ever so easy to drink.

Then it was down to business as we started with a blind tasting of an off the shelf RR 110pf against the store pick RR which was about 8 years, 8 months old and also at 110 pf. The sample was only 112 pf but they insisted on cutting it down to 110, I suppose because they hadn't had the forethought to leave a blank space to write a different proof in. Kind of annoying but what can you do. The store pick had been open a few days while the off the shelf bottle was newly opened.

Nobody had any trouble telling these two apart and we all got the store pick correct. It had a nice consistent flavor across the palate with a nice fairly long dry finish with a pleasant dose of cinnamon in the finish. Very easy to drink at proof with no need for water as it didn't seem to add much. The off the shelf bottle started with a bit more fruit and sweetness on the front of the palate but finished a bit spicier but mostly hotter. Not as pleasant to drink at proof and while water tamed the heat a bit it didn't really improve the flavor that I could tell. We finished this round with a newly opened 112.8 Rare Breed. I don't know if it was just the previous whiskey affecting the palate but this one seemed rather bland by comparison. Maybe it was a little closed off. There was a bit of spice on the finish but it was otherwise unremarkable.

After a little break we moved on to the GBS Four Roses barrel picks, a 9+ yo OBSK and an 11+ yo OESO, with a 2013 LE 13yo OBSK thrown in for comparison. The OBSK seemed to have tons of fruit up front but was well balanced and kind of evolved on the palate to a bit of spiciness on the finish and a really nice thick mouthfeel and good long finish. The 2013 SBLE also had a tendency to change character on the palate and even from sip to sip with perhaps a bit more wood as expected but plenty of balancing sweetness and an even longer finish than the GBS OBSK. Very nice indeed. A bit of heat at the end but just a touch of water worked wonders. The OESO was a bit different with sweetness up front again that changed to a drier finish with an interesting herbal note in the finish. Not spicy but pleasant all the same. Can't recall if this was the case when we picked it but it was perhaps my favorite at that time, even over the OBSK.

Finally for a bit of variety we finished up with the always pleasant store pick barrel 666 "Devil's Batch". Still spicy and yet very easy to drink. This was compared to a TPS 10yo barrel 362 which is of course a different mashbill from the Devil's Batch. This one has a really nice chocolate note on the palate and finish that lingers for awhile. Both are delightful.

All in all a pleasant day! Next week we will likely swing back to the dark side with some unusual barrel finished malts like the Amarone finished Arran and perhaps a Sauternes finished Caol Ila among the options. Unless something else comes along...

That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat like honey dew vine water and I took another slash…